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booktalkwithkarla's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
“This is the story of the extraordinary rise and epic fall of the Vanderbilt dynasty. This is the story of the greatest American fortune ever squandered.”
“No one can make money evaporate into thin air like a Vanderbilt.”
I love insider stories and this one co-authored by Anderson Cooper is about his mother and her family. Tracing back to the origin of the Vanderbilt money through the generation’s spending, Katherine Howe and Cooper share information public and private. Society during the Gilded Age is fascinating and opulent, even if the methods and means are questionable. I enjoyed reading this story of one family whose money (mass amounts), ego (ruthless), and parenting (lack of) was its downfall.
lacemska's review against another edition
3.0
2.75 stars. Some chapters were very interesting while others were a slog.
khornstein1's review
3.0
This book really didn't get going for me until Chapter 10 (two-thirds of the way through) when Anderson Cooper starts talking about his mother. Before that point, it's a collection of stories about the Vanderbilts that seemed familiar to me (did I read "Little Gloria, Happy at Last" or "Profiles of a Guilded Age?" Need to investigate...) but that may or may not interest you depending on your interests (yachting? fancy balls?) But the poignancy of the stories Cooper tells about his mother, especially the one about the two of them going to the movies together on Christmas, not long after Cooper's father and brother have died, and then the "final tour" of the haunted (non-existent) mansions of Vanderbilt life Cooper finds in Manhattan, now reduced to Duane Reades and parking lots, redeem the book. Read for book club.
or10n's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I think this book was so well written. I really love that Anderson doesnt try to preserve the reputation of his undeserving ancestors. I found that refreshingly candid. I had to have a family tree next to me to follow the lineage, and interestingly there was not much of a disparity between the breadth of detail granted to each individual or generation. Anderson's mother (who holds him on the cover) is granted more detail, but that is to be expected, since she is the only first-hand account he had to work with.
I realize that this book would be far, far longer if each post-commodore Vanderbilt was given as much detail, care and exploration as those in Anderson's direct lineage, HOWEVER, as a North Carolinian, I was severely disappointed by the lack of even a sentence regarding Biltmore. I found it tedious to spend a full chapter detailing a yacht race, only to completely disregard America's Largest Home.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to reading a sequel that covers the rest of the Vanderbilts in a similar fashion, if only to sate my Biltmore hunger.
I realize that this book would be far, far longer if each post-commodore Vanderbilt was given as much detail, care and exploration as those in Anderson's direct lineage, HOWEVER, as a North Carolinian, I was severely disappointed by the lack of even a sentence regarding Biltmore. I found it tedious to spend a full chapter detailing a yacht race, only to completely disregard America's Largest Home.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to reading a sequel that covers the rest of the Vanderbilts in a similar fashion, if only to sate my Biltmore hunger.